Laminate flooring

[Red55]

Shane-
It can be done and yes I am a hammer type.(noticed marks on high-end Pergo flloor) From what I remember I slid the side in first than lifted the row and tilted the new piece into the previous row. And if you unwrapped the floor from the plastic and it has absorped the humidity the sledge hammer won't help. -Ed

 

[George2615]

I was in the same boat needing to replace carpet in the LR and linoleum in the kitchen about 6 years ago. As I pulled up the carpet and linoleum I found water had damaged the subflooring mainly by the entrances. I decided to install an entire new subfloor of 15/32 plywood (since I don't like particle board for subflooring) then installed Pergo flooring over the foam cushion in the LR, Kitchen and hallway. It is a floating floor has been great so far. I did have to replace one section in my hall a couple years ago when I found water had been spilled on a weekend I wasn't home and warped a couple sections. Fortunately it wasn't in the middle of the LR where I would have had to take up half a floor to get at it.

 

[Bill Barrett]

Agree! One of our dogs got very sick at the old city house. The family has a carpet cleaner so we put it to use. We mixed 50% hot water with vineger or 50% hot water and Natures Miracle. The Natures Miracle really does kill bad smells.

I ran that machine for HOURS. We went through gallons of water and vineger as well as a couple gallons of Natures Miracle.

The water being sucked into the machine was no cleaner at the start than at the end.

Carpet is disgusting.

Our "new" house has finished concrete floors. People think we are nuts. Don't care. Easy to clean. No dirt and gunk buried in what looks to be clean carpet. One of the dogs just puked a few hours ago. Get some paper towels and sanitzer. Done.

With carpet you just don't know if you got it all....

Later,
Dan

LOL they think your nuts, I'm going with colored concrete with floor drains.

 

[rtdiggr]

Shane-
It can be done and yes I am a hammer type.(noticed marks on high-end Pergo flloor) From what I remember I slid the side in first than lifted the row and tilted the new piece into the previous row. And if you unwrapped the floor from the plastic and it has absorped the humidity the sledge hammer won't help. -Ed

i have tried that as well but no luck, when my learning curve was over i had a pretty good technique.

Shane

 

[HRSx2]

Ok, I made it out to Lowes and Home Depot today after ripping up half of the livingroom floor. Now I'm sure experiences with it good or bad have much to do with what was purchased. Just at these two stores prices were from $1.50 to 3.50. When looking at the stuff closely, there is a definite difference. the 1.50 is no where as good as the 3.50. And I still like that which I picked up 3.50 type, but I also found something else appealing, Snap together engineered wood. I'll start another thread for this.

 

[KAB]

HRS

I installed the snap together Laminate flooring in part of my house a couple of years ago. I have had no issues with it besides the installation of it. It recommended glueing in wet areas. With 3 dogs I knew that the area inside of the back door would get wet. I glued it like recommended and it did not want to click together. I did manage to get it together but would not recommend glueing to anybody else.

Will I use Laminate Flooring again. Probably not. I do not care for the "look". The way the joints go together, fake. There are some Laminates that each piece is a seperate board that I could consider, but most laminated flooring tries to combine those seperate pieces into one.

I have also looked at the click together engineered flooring at Lowes. I like the looks of it, but have not researched it enough to know if I want to use it. I know that the glue down and glue together engineered flooring has been around for sometime, it really comes down to how well the joints will hold up. The pieces that I played with seem to connect easier than the laminate flooring.

Kurt

 

[EddieWalker]

Red55
just curious how you would click the floor together without a little love tap. I have done 3 laminate floors and there is no way they would just click together.
I will say yes the 3 foot section will click together, but how do you put the 1 foot section in? I have never been able to just slide it into the smaller section.

Shane

I don't use the blocks either. When I put down my first row, I cut off a third of the very first section and use that as a block for tapping them together. It's a perfect fit with the edge of the flooring and it never messes it up. I save all my scraps as I cut them and use them for tapping pieces as I need them.

Most of the time, you get what you pay for in laminate flooring. The stuff for under $2 a foot is pretty bad. The first place to look when comparing different brands and prices is the corners of the finished side. Take out a full box and look at the corners. If they are pealing or breaking off while in the box, then you don't want it in your house.

The better stuff sells for $3 a ft on up. Some feels like real wood and in my opinion, is nicer then real wood. I've done quite a few real wood floor refinish jobs and can tell you that it's easier and cheaper to replace water damaged laminate flooring then it is to repair water damaged real wood flooring. ALLOT CHEAPER!!!!!

When we built our home a few years ago, we tried to stain the concrete ourselves with a product from Quickrete. I read the instructions, followed all the steps and thought that we did a good job. It looked great for the first few months, but then it started wearing off in high traffic areas. Now it looks terrible. It was a $200 test that failed. Now we are going to put down tile and laminate. Tile will go in the kitchen, hallway and bathroom. Laminate in the family room.

Between the two, tile and laminate are about the same price for materials. Tile is allot more labor intensive, but if you do it yourself, it's gonna cost you any more then laminate. The big advantage to laminate is how easy it is to install yourself. The biggest mistake I think people make with laminate floors is to use the cheap, or middle grade underlayment. I buy the felt type underlayment with the plastic on one side. It's more money up front, but the diffirence is significant in the feel and wear of the floor.

Allot of do-it-yourselfers leave their baseboards in when putting down floating floors, then come back later and put down quarter round to cover the edges. This always looks bad in my opinion. Baseboards are easy to take out and put back in after the floor is in place. You only need a small gap between the flooring and the wall, wich is easily covered by the width of a baseboard. Of couse, I've had to fix jobs that were done where 3/4 inch quarter round wasn't big enough to cover the gaps left by the home owner when they installed it.

Eddie

 

[rtdiggr]

I don't use the blocks either. When I put down my first row, I cut off a third of the very first section and use that as a block for tapping them together. It's a perfect fit with the edge of the flooring and it never messes it up. I save all my scraps as I cut them and use them for tapping pieces as I need them.

Eddie

i too have done this with success, but what i am trying to say is you can't put the flooring to together without tapping with a hammer and a block or scrape piece or whatever.
Shane

 

[mikim]

My son put some in his house and they like it --they have a dog --Must be an animal thing - have animals - don't want carpet. Don't have animals - no issue with carpet. I've noticed when walking on the stuff at different places I've been, that sometimes it sounds hollow when you walk on it, and sometimes it sounds and feels just like a wood floor. I've never dealt with the stuff but I'm making the assumption that the sound and feel must come from the underlayment. My son went cheap and I don't like it. Didn't cost him much, he put it in himself and with his limited skills it still looks good - but sounds awful. It has a thin foam sheet under it.

 

[rtdiggr]

I think personally you will find issues with any product. Carpet dirt you will find dirt. Hardwood scratches and were, concrete staining were, laminate tickticktick sound water issues.
But each serves a specfic issue. None are all great and none are all terrible, you just have to find the right one for yourself.

Shane